Katherine Bradford

Katherine Bradford is most renowned for her vivid and approachable paintings featuring swimmers, boats, and figures in flight, characterized by their bold use of color, expressive brushwork, and theatrical lighting. Her work captivates viewers with its richly textured surfaces and subtle yet compelling themes and narratives.

Biography of Katherine Bradford

Katherine Bradford, born in 1942 in New York City and raised in Connecticut, USA, is a prominent figure in the contemporary art scene. Her notable works are housed in public art collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and the Menil Collection.

After completing her undergraduate studies at Bryn Mawr College, Bradford married Peter A. Bradford and became the mother of twins born in 1969. In the early 1970s, the family relocated to Maine, where Bradford immersed herself in the local art community alongside notable artists such as Lois Dodd and Yvonne Jacquette. She co-founded the Union of Maine Visual Artists in 1975 and also contributed art reviews to The Maine Times.

In 1979, Bradford ventured to New York City as a single mother, where she pursued graduate studies at SUNY Purchase, earning her MFA in 1987. During this time, she met her future spouse, Jane O'Wyatt, in 1990. Bradford's artistic journey saw her showcasing her works in solo exhibitions at esteemed galleries such as Victoria Munroe in New York, Zolla/Lieberman in Chicago, and Bernard Toale in Boston.

Alongside her artistic endeavors, Bradford shared her knowledge and passion for art by teaching at various institutions, including Illinois State University, Ohio State University, SUNY Purchase, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Her teaching career extended to prestigious programs such as the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Yale School of Art. 

Katherine Bradford's Art Style

Bradford's early artistic expressions were characterized by modestly scaled paintings that leaned towards abstraction. Employing irregular grids and rows of pictographic dots, spirals, and primitive letterforms, she created compositions set against vaporous surfaces reminiscent of the works of Mark Rothko.

Transitioning into the late 1990s, Bradford's style shifted towards iconographic representation. Her paintings depicted box forms and figures with bold, heavy lines, often imbued with a tone that oscillated between comedic and darkly humorous.

The 2000s marked a period of broader recognition for Bradford as her focus turned to marine imagery. Her works featured ethereal depictions of ocean liners, sailboats, sea battles, and fantastical beings or vulnerable figures emerging from darkness.

In the early 2010s, Bradford introduced plunging figures and idiosyncratic, caped "Superman" characters into her repertoire. Set against soft color fields or atmospheric matte skies adorned with starbursts and zigzags, these paintings suggested pathways to unknown realms.

As Bradford's career progressed, her work evolved into larger, more vibrant pieces. Utilizing water-soluble acrylics, she captured the fluidity of water in images of swimmers, bathers, and surfers. These compositions took formal risks, featuring complex arrangements of multiple figures within divided grounds, evoking otherworldly, nocturnal environments.

In her near-monochrome painting "Blue Swimmers" (2015), Bradford submerged ghostly, awkwardly human figures within washes of blue or green, blurring figure-ground relationships while exploring themes of birth, life, and, perhaps, mortality.

In her later works, Bradford delved into more moody, figurative paintings, depicting varying degrees of familial intimacy and maternal sentiment, showcasing the artist's ongoing evolution and exploration of themes across her career.